The members of the Lady Lion softball team will be looking for more than candy in their Easter baskets this weekend -- they'll be looking for a victory over the University of Iowa.

Penn State hosts the Hawkeyes this weekend for a two-day, four-game series. The first doubleheader will begin at 3 this afternoon and the second at 1 tomorrow afternoon.

This weekend brings the Lady Lions to the end of their 12-game homestand. The team goes back on the road next week to play Ohio State and Michigan State before returning home again to end the Big Ten season, playing a weekend series against Northwestern.

At this point, things are looking up for the Lady Lions. Their sweep of non-conference foe Kent State Wednesday gave Penn State its first doubleheader win for the season and a burst of confidence for the upcoming games.

"That was really good for our confidence," Lady Lion pitcher Leigh Bakun said.

Although the Lady Lions' leading hitter and second baseman, Joyce Tinner, will miss the rest of the season due to an injury sustained against Michigan last weekend, the other players have picked up the slack and rebounded with solid defense and strong offense.

Iowa also enters the weekend with recent wins behind it after sweeping Iowa State Tuesday, 4-0, 2-0. The wins brought the Hawkeyes' record to 18-16 overall and 5-3 in the Big Ten.

Leading Penn State into the weekend are third baseman Ellie Traino and pinch hitter Dana Burns, with batting averages of .289 and .250, respectively. Traino also leads the team in hits and home runs.

Heidi Ghigiarelli and Debbie Wyttenbach have jumped in for first baseman Amy Tortorella, who has now moved to second since Tinner is unable to play. While facing new positions against Big Ten competition, the pinch players have provided solid defense against Michigan and Kent State.

Bakun leads the team in pitching, with an ERA of 2.04 in her 92 2-3 innings pitched. Bakun's record is 6-8. Another of the Lady Lion pitchers, Dawn Hoover, looks toward gaining her third victory. She picked up her second Wednesday against Kent State. Hoover is 2-10 and has an 3.26 ERA in her 64 1-3 innings pitched.

Iowa offense enters the game at a much stronger standpoint then Penn State, as it has three players batting over .300.

The Hawkeyes' top two sluggers, Jenny Roe and Diane Pohl lead the team in hits, runs and batting averages. Roe is hitting .356 and Pohl .337. Kim Davis is the other Buckeye batting above .300, with a .306 average.

Iowa pitchers Karen Jackson and Terri McFarland have 1.14 and 1.16 ERAs, respectively. Jackson has pitched 116 1-3 innings and struckout 91 batters. McFarland has struckout 122 in her 115 innings pitched.

"We've faced pitchers like this before," Lady Lion Coach Sue Rankin said. "It's a matter of us being able to make contact."

Bakun agreed, saying that the Lady Lions "can hang with anybody."